Monday, June 27, 2011

This is part two of our series on our past 10 years. EPI’s mission is to raise awareness of global environmental issues and to offer a vision of an eco-economy, which we call Plan B.

In 2003, we started receiving anecdotal evidence that our information was having an effect. For instance, a professor at Ahfed University in the Sudan requested permission to use our publications as course material. He noted how invaluable it was to have free access to environmental research, especially when he had no access to environmental textbooks.

A peace corps volunteer in Mongolia asked permission to excerpt and translate The Earth Policy Reader not only for her environmental education work with students and teachers, but also for a series of 15-30 minute programs she was planning to do for radio, beginning with the stations in the provincial center where she lived and then branching out to all of the country’s radio stations using tapes and transcripts. She found the material in The Reader perfect for these planned radio programs.

Warren Snow, an environmentalist based in New Zealand promoting sustainability strategies for communities and Zero Waste, received a copy of Plan B and immediately ordered 100 copies so that he could distribute them through his organization Envision New Zealand.

Inspired by Eco-Economy, NHK, Japan’s national television network had Lester Brown host a two-hour, two-part program with students, entitled “Voyage to the Future.” Taped in December 2002, the show began airing in March 2003 in Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Korea. The conclusion of this project was a keynote lecture in Yokohama by Lester that was aired live on NHK television in August 2003.

The government of China began using the Chinese edition of Eco-Economy to train mayors and provincial officials on environmental issues. At the same time, the provincial head of Anhui Province began using the ideas in Eco-Economy in developing projects to protect the environment and economy.

Inspired by these examples, we began an Action Center on our website to showcase supporters of Plan B. For more on who has gotten involved in the classroom, the political arena, the lecture circuit, on the Internet, and more, see People in Action.